1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sheet discharge device, particularly to a sheet discharge device provided with a sheet position regulating member which abuts on a discharge tip end of a sheet with an image formed thereon to be discharged from a printer, a copying machine or another image forming device onto a tray to regulate a position of the sheet.
2. Description of the Related Art
A known sheet distribution device usually called "sorter" is provided with plural distribution bins arranged for successively receiving a sheet with an image formed thereon (hereinafter, referred to as the printed sheet) discharged from a printer, a copying machine or another image forming device and accumulating plural sheets, a first sheet conveying portion for conveying the printed sheets from a sheet discharge portion of the image forming device to a vicinity of a top tray of the distribution bin, a second sheet conveying portion for receiving the printed sheet from the first sheet conveying portion to convey the sheet to a vicinity of a lowermost distribution bin, and an indexer vertically movably provided along a sheet receiving end of the distribution bin for receiving the printed sheet from the second sheet conveying portion to eject/distribute the sheet to each distribution bin. When the sheets accumulated on each distribution bin reach a predetermined number or more, a bunch of sheets on the distribution bin are bundled and stapled together by using a stapler which can move along sheet receiving openings of plural distribution bins.
The sheet distribution device needs to have a distribution rate in accordance with an image forming rate of the image forming device. However, in a stencil printer or another image forming device which has a very high forming rate, the rate at which the sheet is ejected from the indexer to each distribution bin also becomes relatively high. To soften a shock provided is a stopper member for elastically contacting the discharge tip end of the sheet to regulate the position of the sheet. On the other hand, for the stapling or another post-processing of the printed sheets accumulated on the distribution bin, every sheet or every plural sheets need to be matched with a predetermined sheet reference face in such a manner that sheet end faces are aligned. For this purpose, a sheet matching member is necessary.
In the conventional sheet distribution device as described above, a sheet matching member for matching the sheets in a sheet conveying direction is partially provided with an elastic member to also serve as the stopper member when the sheets are ejected. Since the matching performance is different from the stopper performance, in the conventional device, the stopper member insufficiently regulates the sheet position if the device is designed on the basis of sheet matching. Also, if the device is designed on the basis of the stopper performance, the sheet matching member insufficiently fulfills its matching function. Therefore, sheets are disadvantageously aligned improperly.